The Hayate Racing Team was born on the ashes of the late Kawasaki team who officially pulled out of the MotoGP championship last January, now according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Kawasaki has decided also to pull the plug on the Hayate team and will not take part in the 2010 season.

The team has already starting selling trucks and the hospitality, spare parts and the rest of the equipment will be sold off at the end of the championship.

Kawasaki’s contract with Dorna and MSMA was till 2011 and the Spanish manager was willing to take the Japanese manufacturer to court for breach of contract, but before the season opener in Qatar they brainstormed the birth of the Hayate, with Dorna doing almost all of the funding and Marco Melandri as the sole rider.

During the Motegi race several Kawasaki top honchos showed up in mufti and there was talk that Kawasaki was reconsidering its position and thinking of backing the team with full factory support especially after Melandri took second place at Le Mans, but apparently Melandri’s current 8th place in the standings is not enough against the hard hitting economic crisis.

With no team and a one year contract, Marco Melandri is on the market again, and gossip has it that he’s going to pair up with Marco Simoncelli in team Gresini.

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We can call it cut and wrap, the Kawasaki/Dorna/Hayate/Melandri soap opera that started at the end of December is over and Carmelo Ezpeleta can finally stop biting his nails because Marco Melandri has finally and officially confirmed that he has signed a one year deal with the new Hayate Racing Team to ride the Ninja ZX-RR for 2009.

Here’s what Marco had to say:

“The contract with Kawasaki has been cancelled. I had to make a big financial sacrifice, but the most important thing that I wanted was to find trust,” said Melandri.

Continue reading: Marco Melandri signs 1 year contract with Hayate

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It seems that the first part of the Kawaski/Dorna/Melandri/Hayate soap opera is ending on a positive note, because according to French website MotoCaradisiac and English website MCN are both reporting that Marco Melandri has decided to sign and continue riding for the new Hayate Racing Team.

Melandri before heading to Qatar told the media that would think about signing with Hayate only when he finished testing the 2009 ZX-RR and could assess its potential and only if the team could give him certain guarantees regarding development as Kawasaki is only committing to engines maintenance.

“Marco will race on. He has decided today that he will go on. He tested the bike in Qatar and he said the new bike was not so bad. If they can solve a problem with rear grip then he believes he can be reasonably competitive.” said Alberto Vergani, Melandri’s manager.

“He decided to race because he felt staying out of the championship for just one year was too hard. Even though the bike might not be at the highest level, for him it was best to carry on and at least try rather just sit at home. There is no alternative, so he has to try. He is aware of the situation. He knows he has to suffer a little bit. It will be a tough, tough season, but you never know. There was some encouragement in Qatar so maybe he can surprise in some races. He said the bike is better than 2008.” continued Vergani.

Melandri finished 17th during the Qatar test.

Source | motocaradisiac
and mcn

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Marco Melandri finally made his first 2009 preseason appearance after having missed the first test of the year at Sepang in February on the Kawasaki ZX-RR machine with the newly formed Hayate Racing Team.

The Hayate team will be led by engineer Ichiro Yoda, with Andrea Dosoli as team manager and Jasja Bos will undertake the role of team co-ordinator.

“This is an important test for us in order to assess our potential,” Dosoli told the official MotoGP website.”The chassis is completely new and so is the engine.”The rain is not helping us early on, because we need to see exactly where we are as a team in normal conditions.”It is important for us to have Marco on the bike as he is a talented rider who has great experience.

Continue reading: Melandri debuts in Qatar Test with Hayate Team

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